Lumifer comments on "Spiritual" techniques that actually work thread - Less Wrong
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Saying grace before a meal can help you maintain tranquility (thereby making it more likely you will experience positive emotions) via framing effects:
-- William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
Or it can suggest to you that you are a worthless sinner destined for the lake of fire :-/
This is basically a claim that reminding people of religion is good for them. I am... doubtful.
Religion is one of those things where It Depends. I think Abrahamic religions have big subcultural (sometimes family level) splits between defaulting to a nurturing God and defaulting to a punishing God.
It's worth noting that the quoted fragment occurs in a book on Stoicism, which doesn't have a concept of personal god throwing you into hell, and it's a part of the explanation of a Stoic technique. In fact, I think the OP cut away a little too much context from the quote:
I don't think this quote works well.
Grace is explicitly the expression of gratitude to a specific power: the power that holds your wellbeing and you life in its hand and you're grateful that it allowed you a measure of happiness (see the Book of Job for the case when it did not). At best this attitude contributes to learned helplessness -- "Man proposes, God disposes", aka Inshallah!
Buddhism also has forms of saying grace before meals. Example.
more widespread, "itadakimasu!"